Scroll machines, such as scroll compressors using a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll, are well known in the industry. Each of the scrolls of a scroll compressor has a spiral wrap extending axially from a base plate. The spiral wraps nest with one another to form pockets of varying volume. A fluid introduced into a low pressure area of the pockets is compressed by the cooperating movement of the spiral wraps, and discharged from a high pressure area proximate the center of the wraps. A motor drives a crankshaft which in turn drives the orbiting scroll along its circular orbital path via a slider block. A lubricant is typically introduced to the bearing surfaces of the compressor to reduce the friction incurred by the relative movement of the components of the compressor. Axial forces can force certain adjacent surfaces of the compressor into tight contact with one another, e.g. the top surface of the slider block and the bottom surface of the orbiting scroll, thereby restricting the flow of lubricant and correspondingly increasing friction between such surfaces of the compressor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,868 to Caillat et al. discloses an axially extending recess formed in the top of a bushing of a scroll type machine which provides a limited flow path for lubricant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a scroll compressor with a slider block which reduces or wholly overcomes some or all of the aforesaid difficulties inherent in prior known devices. Particular objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable and experienced in this field of technology, in view of the following disclosure of the invention and detailed description of the preferred embodiments.